This invention relates generally to an electronic timepiece and, more particularly, to a wristwatch including an analog display and an electro-optical digital display.
It has been proposed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 51-117,667 to provide a hybrid display watch including both an analog display with an hour, minute and second hand and a digital display having various functions, such as date and day displays and the chronograph function. The digital display is based on a liquid crystal display. Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 53-126,674 proposes a hybrid watch wherein the digital display is a liquid crystal layer utilizing a glass dial as the upper panel. Alternatively, an analog dial is formed with an aperture for reading a digital display placed within the wristwatch movement.
In Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 53-65,764 and No. 51-50,070 it has been proposed to incline the digital display panel. Each of these prior suggested constructions has been less than completely satisfactory.
When the digital display is formed as part of the analog display dial, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the upper surface of the dial cannot be plated in the usual manner. This limits the degree of freedom for finishing the upper surface and tends to restrict the size of the analog display causing the digital display to be prominent with the analog display secondary. When the digital display is placed beneath the dial, as shown in FIG. 2, it is difficult to obtain a clear view of the digital display. In the construction illustrated in FIG. 3 the digital display is merely inclined with respect to the watch case preventing construction of a thin and small wristwatch. In the construction shown in FIG. 3, the digital display is arranged in the region outside the analog display on the case band. This substantially increases costs in finishing the case band.
Accordingly, it would be desireable to provide a hybrid wristwatch including both an analog display and a digital display which generates a true integrated feeling of the two displays and overcomes the disadvantages of these prior art constructions.